25 November 2016
Participants: Just me
Where: Dunsinane Hill, 310m/1017', Tump, OS 53, NO 214 317 and Black Hill, 360m/1181', Tump, Map 53, NO 220 319
I was on my way to the Dundee Mountain Film Festival. It was a clear, frosty day and I had read that these western Sidlaw hills were a great viewpoint. So I drove round to Collace on their north side and parked at the signpost for Dunsinane Hill.....
It was a steep climb up the path on to the hills. I decided to go to Black Hill first so cut of from the lower slopes of Dunsinane Hill and headed to the col between the two hills. It was a bit rough but on reaching the slopes of Black Hill I utilised several strips of burnt heather in making my way to the top. Funny how all "Black Hills"- at least the ones that I have come across- are covered in deep heather. Beware the Black Hill if you want an easy walk! The views from the cairn were indeed excellent, although everything was fairly distant. This is looking along the Carse of Gowrie towards Dundee.....
a couple of shots of the distant Perthshire hills.....
the Lomond hills in Fife.....
and along the ridge to King's Seat, the highest hill in this part of the Sidlaws and a sub-2k Marilyn. I had climbed this on a previous visit and as there was a cold wind blowing on the tops, I didn't feel any great compunction to re-visit it today.....
I therefore cut back down to the col for Dunsinane Hill. This is the location of Macbeth's castle in Shakespeare's play. In fact, the fort on top dates back to the Iron Age and apparently remained in use until medieval times. If you look closely at the photo, you can make out the shape of some of the walls.....
It was another fine viewpoint- the cairn with the Perthshire hills in the background.....
Looking back at Black Hill.....
And round the side of Black Hill to Dundee in the distance.....
It was only a short walk, less than a couple of hours, but it broke the journey up nicely.
1 comment:
I've really enjoyed the few Sidlaw Hills I've been up. It's somewhere different and a nice change. One advantage of a zoom I like is that not much is far away using it and you can get a totally different perspective of familiar places usually only seen close up. Must get back to that area sometime.
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